“The world is mental in some way that we do not yet understand, but that which we’re edging toward understanding. And the world is made of language. I can’t say that enough. Whenever we get into these discussions about reality, or effects in space and time, we are operating outside this assumption that the world is made of language.” – Terence McKenna, from a talk he gave on September 11, 1993.

“As always: combatting Terrorism is not the end of the War on Terror; the War on Terror is the end in itself, and Terrorism is merely its pretext.” – Glenn Greenwald, “Since bin Laden’s death,” May 1, 2012.

Jose Rodriguez, one of the CIA’s inquisitors, defended torture and the Agency’s destruction of evidence on CBS’s 60 minutes on Sunday, April 29.

As the former Deputy Director for Operations, Rodriguez committed many war crimes, torture being among them. He is a 21st century version of a Spanish inquisitor. His job is to protect National Security orthodoxies, smear victims with false charges, and sell the lie to the American people that the War on Terrorism is a noble struggle which the CIA must fight with an iron will.

A d v e r t i s e m e n t

According to CIA inquisitors and their defenders in the press, no questions about CIA policies should be raised because the CIA is holy and pure, while its detractors are just a bunch of conspiracy theorists, left-wing radicals, and Islamofascists.

As we can see, there are many similarities between the modern charges of terrorism and conspiracy theory made by intelligence agencies and the medieval charges of blasphemy and heresy made by religious authorities. The Catholic Church promised its flock salvation; the National Security State promises its flock security. Neither salvation or security can be delivered by political and religious authorities, but that fact hasn’t stopped religion and government from going out of business yet.

The most important element of the CIA’s 21st century inquisition is staining the victim with guilt. In CIA torture sessions, the “terrorists” who confess their guilt are treated more mildly and kindly than the “terrorists” who insist on their innocence.

American playwright Arthur Miller said that staining the victim with sin and guilt has been used by political and religious authorities throughout history, most famously in Salem, Massachusetts in the late seventeenth century and during McCarthyism in the 1950s. “This is not a phenomenon from 1692 or 1952 or anything like it. It is right now,” said Miller.

The assumption of guilt is stronger than the weight of facts. Whether the innocent victim is a “heretic,” or a “terrorist,” the wolves of terror and torture always justify their actions by spreading mass hysteria, indoctrinating the population, placing propaganda above truth, and smearing critics.

Deanna Proach wrote in her article, “The Spanish Inquisition: The Use of Torture in the Inquisition,” that during the early period of the Inquisition, “Only those who refused to confess their sins were tortured severely.” Think about that. Once you’re called evil, it’s game over. No trial can save your ass. You are condemned to die. Osama Bin Laden could’ve hired the smartest Jewish lawyer in Israel, bribed the judge of history with CIA money, terrorized the Jury into accepting Allah as the master of the Earth, and he still would have lost the case because he was declared Evil by the U.S. government.

The power of evoking evil in the enemy is a religious power, and modern totalitarian governments have embraced this power with zeal, especially the governments of America, England, and Israel. False flag events such as 9/11 and 7/7 show that the CIA, Mossad, and MI6 are fine with exploiting the god-like faith that has been invested in them by their flocks. They have been corrupted because it is hard to resist the power and glory that one receives from having the public believe in the justness of your institutional authority.

Criminal abuse of the public trust is natural whenever political and religious authorities are given total obedience. The corruption of the Catholic Church, political Islam, and institutions like the CIA, MI6, and Mossad all stem from the same root: mindless public faith.

Placing your faith in torturers, whether Islamic or Western, religious or political, is a mark of ignorance and shame. Torturers of all eras, dogmas, and authoritarian systems share the same basic human flaw: they believe they are good, and those being tortured are bad.

In Iran, the Islamic torturers believe that individuals who have been tortured deserved it because they Western spies or unfaithful to the Supreme Leader. They justify their acts of evil by asserting their purity and accusing their victims of transgressions.

Most torturers believe in the righteousness of their cause, but there are always sick and sadistic freaks like Rodriguez who enjoy torturing others and do it for the hell of it. Rodriguez told CBS that, “We are the dark side,” with great self-satisfaction and pleasure.

All systems of torture, terror, and tyranny are religious in nature. Even so-called Western democracies have not escaped the poisons of propaganda, totalitarian power, and unthinking religious faith in government authorities.

Also, the errors of orthodox thinking and blind worship of authority still plague us. Terrorism and conspiracy theory have replaced blasphemy and heresy as words that are used to kill thought and make people obedient to absolute power. The innocent victims of the West’s war on terror are demonized as “terrorists,” and the vocal skeptics of the myths and narratives that underlie the war are marginalized as “conspiracy theorists.” Both terms are very convenient. They silence debate and excuse the U.S., British, and Israeli governments of their crimes against humanity.

When used with authority, language works like magic. Terence McKenna said that, “the world is made of language.” So the world is magic. And magic is more powerful than reality. Under the spell of government magic, people can be led to believe almost anything, no matter how absurd.